58 SOCIAL SCIENTIST gravitate towards those fields of research which are considered to be the most important in the Western countries. J B S Haldanc, a leading British geneticist, came to live in India in the late 1950^s in order to devote himself to problems directly related to the welfare of the Indian masses. He was shocked to find that his Indian colleagues concentrated on issues that were remote from the Indian reality, but close to the ones fashionable among academic circles abroad.2 Recent investigations on Third World countries confirm the impressions ofHaldane. G Lake used the International Chemistry Directory 1969-70 to find the number of research workers engaged in various fields from a sample of 373 researchers employed in 14 universities in the West and of 392 researchers from 30 universities in the Third World. The subject of chemistry was divided into 27 main areas of which six were in organic chemistry, 10 in inorganic chemistry and 11 in physical chemistry. There was a remarkable similarity in the ranking of different areas as between the researchers in the two sets of countries; however, Third World researchers lagged behind their Western colleagues by a few years before entering the trendy areas. Two separate studies on Turkey and Nigeria respectively found that scientists and engineers are unconcerned with the actual problems of industries in those countries. The fact that most industries are of the import-substitution type may have contributed to this unhappy state of affairs.8 Scientists in the West have, on the other hand, concerned themselves with issues faced by their own countries. Research facilities offered by external agencies like the government, private foundations or business are exclusively geared to the lattcr's needs; this in turn obliges a scientist to work in areas relevant to his own society. As a consequence very little of scientific activity carried on in the West can be directly and fruitfully applied to solve problems of Third World countries at the present stage of their development. It follows that the tailism of Third World scientists automatically robs most of their research of any immediate usefulness for their own countries. Further, the absence of comparable research facilities in their own laboratories is a factor that is likely to continue in view of the meagre resources of these countries and should at least in some areas, prevent Third World scientists from competing on an equal footing with their Western colleagues. Thus, as long as the research priorities in the Third World are guided by ideas emanating from the West, the scientists in the Third World cannot but remain frustrated. This frustration has a deeper root in the crisis of Third World societies. At this point of analysis it would be prudent to confine oneself to India alone. Our political leaders, business tycoons, economic planners and the intelligentsia in general have been consciously striving to emulate current Western standards and practices in their urge to modernize society. With such a conception of progress which, in its turn